Pea and kindergarten.
Aug. 4th, 2012 07:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladydraceFirstly, not to confuse anyone, here in Denmark kindergarten has nothing to do with school. Our daycare system is divided into daycare (from ages 6 mths to 3 years) and kindergarten (from 3-5/6). I have no idea why.
So. Pea started his special needs kindergarten this Wednesday. It's been a rough week.
The week started kinda crap with my foot being fucked up. I still don't know what was up with it, but it hurt to put pressure on, and kept me awake all night. Luckily grandma was happy to take Pea for the night so I could drug up and collapse. By Tuesday all was well again, so I dunno. But anyway. By Wednesday, Pea was absolutely buzzing. He's already been to visit kindergarten twice, and apparently it left such an impression with him that it was elevated to almost heavenly status. So Wednesday morning he practically dragged me out the door, WAY too early so we had to wait almost 20 mins for the bus. This has NEVER happened with daycare. Ever.
That first day was brilliant. We arrived around 9.15 and stayed until 11.30. Pea was all over the place, playing with all the toys, going all out on the playground, and generally being a perfect kid. He did so many things which he normally avoids. He actively sought out another boy to play with (Named Lucas) and I think they are well on their way to be best buddies. :o) He was social, happy, eager to please and adventurous. Well, he's always adventurous, but usually it takes very little to make him topple over. Not this day, though. I had kind of a hard time dragging him away, so we agreed to try a longer day Thursday.
I had expected there to be problems that first day, but at kindergarten there was nothing. I had also expected him to be tired, but he only had a very short and restless nap when we came home. And then in the afternoon came the reaction I had expected to see at kindergarten. He spent at least half an hour throwing a MAJOR fit, and after that he closed the door to his room and refused to come out for an hour. THAT was new. I've never seen that before. But by the time he came out, he was calm and seemed to have processed the whole thing enough to be his normal self for the rest of the day.
Thursday dawned a little iffy. We had to pass some road works, and the huge drilling machine thingy freaked him out, and I'm not yet known in the area enough to figure out an alternate route, so we just had to grind our teeth and hurry past. Pea was still wildly eager to go to kindergarten, though, so as soon as we got there by 8.45 he was happy as a clam. For about an hour. Then he fell asleep on a swing (while swinging!), thankfully without falling off. When we finally woke him up enough to talk to us, he got very weepy and just wanted to go home. I imagine the day before kinda caught up with him, so we went home and he slept for 2½ hours. The afternoon was spent doing as little as possible. He was very tired and slept all night.
Friday was epic. In fact, it was closer to what I had expected Wednesday to be. We stayed for almost an entire day, 8.45 to 12.30, and even though there were a few small outbursts we managed, and the day was wonderful. I had to wipe tears from my eyes a couple of times because he did so well.
Things he managed these three days which is new/rare:
- Walking up to another child and initiating playtime. (Even having only met this kid twice before)
- Letting a completely unknown child join in his game.
- Letting an adult he only met once before take him inside (while I was still outside) to fetch some toys.
- Saying both "good morning", "see you tomorrow/next week", "thank you", "here you go" at all the appropriate times. O.O
- Having his diaper changed in a completely strange place with only minimal fuss.
- Riding a bicycle (the walk-cyckle kind) and accepting that he had to wear a helmet.
In addition his language has simply EXPLODED this week. I have never heard him say so much so clearly before. So all in all I can happily report that kindergarten is a huge success. In fact, the only thing suffering here is my goddamn head. My anxiety was kept at bay by the skin of my teeth those three days, but this morning apparently my head decided that enough was enough and overrode my body completely. I woke up covered in sweat, feverish and achy. Pea was utterly adorable about it. "Mommy tired?" "Yes, honey, mommy's very tired." *ponders* "Pea tired too." *cuddles up* <3 <3 <3 <3
But since I was about to pass out on my feet I asked B to take over, and he did happily. I heard Pea talking his head off all the way out the door, telling daddy all about daycare. A happy end to a happy week, despite me feeling like utter crap.
So. Pea started his special needs kindergarten this Wednesday. It's been a rough week.
The week started kinda crap with my foot being fucked up. I still don't know what was up with it, but it hurt to put pressure on, and kept me awake all night. Luckily grandma was happy to take Pea for the night so I could drug up and collapse. By Tuesday all was well again, so I dunno. But anyway. By Wednesday, Pea was absolutely buzzing. He's already been to visit kindergarten twice, and apparently it left such an impression with him that it was elevated to almost heavenly status. So Wednesday morning he practically dragged me out the door, WAY too early so we had to wait almost 20 mins for the bus. This has NEVER happened with daycare. Ever.
That first day was brilliant. We arrived around 9.15 and stayed until 11.30. Pea was all over the place, playing with all the toys, going all out on the playground, and generally being a perfect kid. He did so many things which he normally avoids. He actively sought out another boy to play with (Named Lucas) and I think they are well on their way to be best buddies. :o) He was social, happy, eager to please and adventurous. Well, he's always adventurous, but usually it takes very little to make him topple over. Not this day, though. I had kind of a hard time dragging him away, so we agreed to try a longer day Thursday.
I had expected there to be problems that first day, but at kindergarten there was nothing. I had also expected him to be tired, but he only had a very short and restless nap when we came home. And then in the afternoon came the reaction I had expected to see at kindergarten. He spent at least half an hour throwing a MAJOR fit, and after that he closed the door to his room and refused to come out for an hour. THAT was new. I've never seen that before. But by the time he came out, he was calm and seemed to have processed the whole thing enough to be his normal self for the rest of the day.
Thursday dawned a little iffy. We had to pass some road works, and the huge drilling machine thingy freaked him out, and I'm not yet known in the area enough to figure out an alternate route, so we just had to grind our teeth and hurry past. Pea was still wildly eager to go to kindergarten, though, so as soon as we got there by 8.45 he was happy as a clam. For about an hour. Then he fell asleep on a swing (while swinging!), thankfully without falling off. When we finally woke him up enough to talk to us, he got very weepy and just wanted to go home. I imagine the day before kinda caught up with him, so we went home and he slept for 2½ hours. The afternoon was spent doing as little as possible. He was very tired and slept all night.
Friday was epic. In fact, it was closer to what I had expected Wednesday to be. We stayed for almost an entire day, 8.45 to 12.30, and even though there were a few small outbursts we managed, and the day was wonderful. I had to wipe tears from my eyes a couple of times because he did so well.
Things he managed these three days which is new/rare:
- Walking up to another child and initiating playtime. (Even having only met this kid twice before)
- Letting a completely unknown child join in his game.
- Letting an adult he only met once before take him inside (while I was still outside) to fetch some toys.
- Saying both "good morning", "see you tomorrow/next week", "thank you", "here you go" at all the appropriate times. O.O
- Having his diaper changed in a completely strange place with only minimal fuss.
- Riding a bicycle (the walk-cyckle kind) and accepting that he had to wear a helmet.
In addition his language has simply EXPLODED this week. I have never heard him say so much so clearly before. So all in all I can happily report that kindergarten is a huge success. In fact, the only thing suffering here is my goddamn head. My anxiety was kept at bay by the skin of my teeth those three days, but this morning apparently my head decided that enough was enough and overrode my body completely. I woke up covered in sweat, feverish and achy. Pea was utterly adorable about it. "Mommy tired?" "Yes, honey, mommy's very tired." *ponders* "Pea tired too." *cuddles up* <3 <3 <3 <3
But since I was about to pass out on my feet I asked B to take over, and he did happily. I heard Pea talking his head off all the way out the door, telling daddy all about daycare. A happy end to a happy week, despite me feeling like utter crap.
